


Learning to fly

by kinakomochi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, HaikyuuMonth, i love karasuno first years so much, slice of life-ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 11:32:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7220614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinakomochi/pseuds/kinakomochi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short chapters following the first years of the Karasuno volleyball club, their thoughts, bonds and space to grow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tsukishima Kei

As afternoon training was over, the volleyball club prepared to leave for the day. Every member took some part of the work: mop the floor, take the net away, gather the balls. Yamaguchi finished picking up balls. Sweating quite the amount, he lay against the wall, feeling the cool concrete very comforting after a rough training session. Just as he began relaxing, someone called out to him.

“Ah, Yamaguchi-kun!” Yachi approached the boy, with multiple towels in her arms and carrying boxes with bottles on each side. “Would you help me carry these to the clubroom? Shimizu-senpai is helping out the coaches and… um… I saw you weren’t occupied.”

“Ah, y-yeah, sure,” he stammered, not quite accustomed to the girl’s presence yet.

Yamaguchi took the bottles from Yachi and both headed out to the clubroom. On the way out, Yachi noticed Tsukishima was standing by the door. He seemed to try to go unnoticed, avoiding any extra chore the others could put upon him.

Yachi looked at him for a brief moment before exiting the gymnasium. She couldn’t figure out Tsukishima’s attitude. Having talked to him in a minimum of occasions, she never found him mean, as Hinata sometime told her, but he wasn’t really amiable either. He didn’t seem to care for others, but still joined a club in which teamwork was a huge part of it. And although he had a lot of talent, he didn’t put effort into exploiting it. She looked up at Yamaguchi, questioning if he could enlighten her a bit.

He noticed the stare. “Is there something wrong, Yachi-san?”

“I have been wondering for sometime now,” she said, “Tsukishima-kun doesn’t really gets along with the others, right?”

Yamaguchi was not really surprised by the statement. “I guess not.”

“I, I didn’t mean anything bad!” she panicked, “I just thought that it was strange! He seems to be uncomfortable most of the time, but he chose to enter the team by himself, didn’t he?”

“Um, yes.”

“Then, why is he so distant?” she asked bluntly.

Yamaguchi smiled, apprehensive, “Tsukki probably finds it hard, opening to others.”

Yachi reflected upon it, but something was still escaping her. To her, it seemed more like Tsukishima didn’t want to expose himself, he clearly was always on guard. She opened the clubroom door and began to put the things into place.

To Yamaguchi it was easier to see that was truth, because he has known Tsukishima for longer. Even though Tsukishima never was transparent, on the contrary, was quite reserved, Yamaguchi didn’t found it difficult to connect and become friends. But, after the incident with Akiteru, things changed and Tsukishima lost something of his prior self that put distance between him and the others.

“I think he’s just trying to keep his cool,” Yamaguchi talked, “after all he also has things he doesn’t want the rest to know.” He laughed.

_If Yamaguchi says so..._ Yachi sighed, “I just wonder if he likes the team.”

Yamaguchi couldn’t answer, in that instant Nishinoya came through the door, followed by the other second years. It seemed everything was finished at the gym and now they could go home. Before anyone could begin undressing, Yachi hurriedly excused herself and went on to find Kiyoko.

As the sky began to turn a purple red, finally, everyone called it a day. The second years headed to Tanaka’s house to study, while the third years each headed their own way home.

Coincidently, all the first years headed together to the Sakanoshita shop. First because Hinata wanted some meat buns while Kageyama wanted a yogurt. Second, because Yachi was on her way to the bus stop and since Hinata insisted to accompany her, would wait for them. Third, even though Yamaguchi was tempted by the idea to buy something, he was heading to Shimada market for his usual serving lesson. And lastly, because Tsukishima simply was going home and this was his usual route.

_Going home with so many people is strange_ , Yamaguchi thought. It was such a different atmosphere. Hinata and Kageyama were talking about the best way to fall asleep, with Yachi hearing every word with more attention than needed. And while Yamaguchi found that endearing, Tsukishima seemed indifferent. He walked ahead, a little away from the rest. As the conversation got louder, he chose to hear music over the foolish discussion. He took out his headphones and MP3 from his bag, and in that same movement, he dropped something. Yachi took notice of it.

“Tsukishima-kun, you dropped this.” She kneeled and took what appeared to be a small dinosaur charm. “Oh, it’s really cute!”

The attention of everyone was suddenly turned towards Yachi.

“Oh, isn’t this one a present from Akiteru-kun?” Yamaguchi noticed.

Tsukishima frowned. He took the charm from Yachi and mumbled a thanks.

“So you like dinosaurs, Tsukishima?” Hinata looked at him with earnest curiosity.

Yamaguchi smiled amused, knowing well that he did. When younger, if you gave him the opportunity, Tsukishima would spit out 68 different species of carnivorous dinosaurs that he knew of memory thanks to a taxonomy book he owned. But as they grew up, even though he probably knew more species by now, he rarely talked about it.

Reluctantly, Tsukishima spoke, “I find them interesting. That’s it.”

There was a moment of silence. Hinata buffed.

“Pfft… is that so!” he could hardly hide his mocking.

Tsukishima clearly got angry, but quickly changed his expression. “Of course a guy who just thinks about volleyball 24/7 wouldn’t understand.” He smiled smugly.

Hinata began jumping up and down while spitting childish insults. Tsukishima kept smiling. Yamaguchi realized he was just concealing his embarrassment.

Kageyama kept silent by the side, contemplating the scene with an absent expression. On the other side, Yachi seemed nervous about the development of the situation.

“Hinata-kun, Tsukishima-kun… s-stop it already,” Yachi called out, but maybe her voice was too quiet for them to hear.

Yamaguchi approached her. “Don’t worry about them, they’re not serious.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… and about earlier, I think he does.”

Yachi blinked. “Huh?”

“Tsukki is really good at hiding his feelings.” Yamaguchi told Yachi. “I think he likes everyone. He just feels uncomfortable showing it.”

Yachi looked up at Yamaguchi, a bit amazed he confide her this information. Considering everything that she learned that day, it didn’t seem farfetched. She smiled, her eyes shining. “That’s good then.”

“Uh?”

“Because I think everyone also likes Tsukishima-kun. They just don’t say it.”

Yamaguchi was taken aback by that, but he felt relieved. She might be right. It would take a lot of time for Tsukishima to let his guard down, he was sure. But even if he didn’t believe in himself, the rest did. Yamaguchi also believed in him and was convinced that he would become a real part of the team, sooner or later.

“Aren’t dragons better?” Kageyama suddenly spoke.

After a silence, the first thing that everyone heard was Tsukishima gasping loudly. And not even Yamaguchi would have expected the long argument he would give a very surprised Kageyama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't really going anywhere with this, but I wanted to do some analysis on a character parting from the others POV. I plan to post one chapter for each first year in their respective day, so look forward to it. Thanks for reading.


	2. Kageyama Tobio

When the bell marked the beginning of the lunch break, Hinata excused himself to the classmates he usually ate with, and went out to reunite with Yachi and Kageyama. With tests just around the corner, they would be sure to pass all their subjects without fail. With that conviction, Hinata arrived at class 1-5, where Yachi was already waiting, to his surprise, with Yamaguchi also there.

“Hinata, you’re here,” she greeted.

“Yeah,” he said back, “you’re gonna study with us, Yamaguchi?”

“Ah, yes, this month felt a little harder for me,” he said sheepishly.

Hinata borrowed a chair and sat with them. He took out his notebooks.

Yachi clasped her hands and asked, “should we wait for Kageyama-kun to begin?”

“It’s okay with me,” Yamaguchi said.

Hinata agreed also, as he took the opportunity to eat his lunch box. Yachi and Yamaguchi did the same, with little chat to make.

“He’s taking his time” Hinata said when 10 minutes of their break already went by. “Can’t we begin now?”

Yachi considered it. “Let’s wait just a bit more, it’s better to review everything together.”

Hinata kept whining, but at the same time, Kageyama arrived. He was holding a yogurt box on one hand and a notebook on the other.

“You’re late, Kageyama.” Hinata accused. “Did you lose time buying yogurt?”

“It’s fruit milk,” he clarified.

This wasn’t anything new, everyday he went to buy milk at the spending machine, and Hinata always thought how weird it was of him. It wouldn’t be a image you could give Kageyama at first, but after knowing him… to Hinata it wasn’t all that strange anymore. At the time being though, Hinata was just mad he would be so uncaring of the rest of them, who were waiting for him.

“At least apologize!”

“Sorry,” Kageyama said nonchalantly as he sat down.

Before the discussion could scale up, Yachi intervened, “um, well then, what do you want to revise first?”

Hinata bit the bait and calmed down. Kageyama continued as if nothing happened. Yamaguchi watched the two of them, they could go from screaming to be completely quiet in a second. They really were simple-minded.

Once they began studying, they forgot the little incident and put all their effort into copying notes and asking questions.

But too soon, the bell rang, and they had to get to their respective classrooms, barely having time to clear their doubts.

“Well, we advanced a good amount,” Yachi commented.

“Thanks for helping us, Yachi-san,” Yamaguchi said while he picked up his things.

“Can we come tomorrow too?” Hinata asked.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” they all said one last time before going.

Yachi smiled. “See you!”

The boys went back to their own classrooms. Yamaguchi’s class was just besides Yachi’s.

“See you at practice,” Yamaguchi said as he entered his classroom. Almost immediately a loud “Hey, Tsukki!” was heard.

Hinata and Kageyama walked besides each other but without saying a word.

“Will you stay after practice today?” Hinata asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kageyama responded.

Hinata puffed his cheeks, “I just wanted to do some talk, geez!”

Kageyama seemed confused. “Then... will you stay after?”

“Of course! Even if you don’t I will stay and practice,” he said proudly.

“Then why do you even ask!”

Thankfully, before he could throw Hinata away, they arrived at Kageyama’s classroom. Hinata kept walking as he said “later!”. Kageyama just did a hand gesture.

He gets angry out of nothing, Hinata thought to himself. Even though they were already past the middle of their first year of high school, it was difficult to treat with him.

“It’s so tiring to talk with him.” He complained to Yamaguchi that same afternoon, while both of them were doing warm ups.

“That can’t be helped,” Yamaguchi talked, while he helped him stretch his back. “That happens between even the best of friends.”

“Why do you say? Do you get tired of Tsukishima?”

“No, that’s not it...” Yamaguchi interrupted himself, reflecting. He shocked his head, “a-anyway, what I mean is even someone who is your friend can be tiresome sometimes.”

 _So, he’s talking about Tsukishima_ , Hinata thought with amusement, before he processed what Yamaguchi really implied.

“My friend? Kageyama?”

“Uh? Yes.”

“I never thought about it that way.”

Yamaguchi was surprised by the statement. To him, Kageyama never came up as the kind of person who wanted friends, he just seemed to be okay on his own. He was distant, though in a different way than Tsukishima; Kageyama didn’t build walls, he wasn’t trying to get apart, on the contrary, he did his best to get along with the team, even if it was in an awkward way. But somehow, Hinata went across that.

“You are the one who better gets along with Kageyama,” he said. “Don’t you consider him a friend?”

Hinata thought of it. “Yeah, I guess.” It wasn’t that he disliked Kageyama, but something about the wording didn’t seem right with him. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t difficult. I can’t understand him at all.”

“Also,” Hinata’s expression turned severe, “he still... scares me a bit.”

“Ah.” Yamaguchi understood that. His way of being could come as aggressive. “Well, the only thing you can do is keep trying. We’ll be seeing each other for another two and a half years.”

That was indeed truth. Hinata imagination flew by, wondering how much would all of them change in the future, how much will they grow, learn.

Hinata was really glad for the volleyball club. For the first time, he could feel what it meant to be in a team. With Kageyama, it wasn’t that they weren’t friends, but maybe the word didn’t describe their relation. If it weren’t because of the club, they wouldn’t be companions, not even acquaintances, that was a given. Hinata was sure they wouldn’t be friends if they met out of the club. Not with the way Kageyama was.

But also, he felt he got along with Kageyama the best of all. Even if they only talked about volleyball, there was a connection between them. And if Hinata didn’t understand Kageyama, at least he sympathized with him.

No… more than that, Hinata really respected and admired him. Kageyama had all the talent and technique he lacked, and even if he still didn’t knew how to be a setter that let his teammates lead, Hinata was sure he could become the best setter of all, one that, like Oikawa-san, could draw out the 100% of the players.

“Let’s begin practice!” the captain called.

Hinata stood up. Kageyama was already by the net, spinning a ball in his hands. Hinata smiled. Even if friends wasn’t the right word, they were partners, and that was as important as any friendship.

Next day, Hinata found Kageyama by the spending machine. He inserted one coin of 100 yen, and as the light blinked up, he pressed two buttons of the same product with quite more strength than necessary. Evidently only one was selected, and a milk box was dropped out. Kageyama took it out, put the straw on and began drinking it. As expected, Hinata didn’t understand him, at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very late but still hope you enjoyed it. This time I wrote in a rush, I hope there weren't (many) mistakes.


	3. Yachi Hitoka

The day was unusually hot for the season; but that didn’t meant a change for the different clubs at Karasuno that, with the end of school lessons, began their afternoon activities. The volleyball club was no exception. Without hurry, Kageyama was walking towards the clubroom. As he was crossing the back field, from behind, Hinata was coming at full speed and passed him, a loud scream the only thing that was left behind.

“Hey, wait!” Kageyama quickly began to run, not willing to lose to him.

And even though, he quickly catched his pace, Kageyama’s effort was in vain, as Hinata reached the stairs 2 seconds ahead of him.

“52 wins for me!” Hinata said with a wide smile.

Kageyama frowned deeply, “I still have 54 wins.” They both began climbing the stairs.

“You’re such a bad loser,” Hinata stuck out his tongue, then his eyes looked away. “Oh, it’s Yachi-san.”

Hinata was about to call her, but he realized she was walking alongside other girl and they were both cheerfully chatting. He observed them with curiosity.

As Hinata didn’t seem to be moving out of the rail, Kageyama spoke, “we should change.”

“Ah, yes,” Hinata reacted and stepped back. Kageyama opened the door and greeted the third years, who were already there.

Slowly, all the members of the club arrived, being the lasts ones Tsukishima and Yamaguchi.

“Can you guys go ahead and put up the net?” Sugawara asked Hinata and Kageyama, who were already changed. “We will get the balls.”

Kageyama and Hinata went to the storage room and took out the needed equipment. Heading to the second gymnasium, they encountered Shimizu and Yachi talking on the corridor.

“Good afternoon,” Hinata said, Kageyama mumbled something that resembled the same.

“Ah, hello,” Yachi responded. She looked at the heavy things they carried. “Do you need help?”

“Don’t worry, we’re fine.” Hinata indicated.

Once they entered the gym, they went and put up the poles, then extended the net. The second years soon came to help and within some minutes, everything was ready.

“Warm up,” Daichi indicated, “we’ll do some laps after that.”

All the team members did what told. In the meanwhile, the managers prepared towels and water bottles. Coach Ukkai arrived and so did Takeda sensei, they both discussing the schedule of their practices and matches to come. Everyone on the team were giving their all in their own way.

Once they finished running, everyone went to drink water. Hinata noticed that Yachi was sitting, annotating something on a notebook, so he approached her.

“What are you doing, Yachi-san?” Hinata asked.

“Shimizu-senpai has been teaching me how to take notes of the practices, so today I’m in charge of it.”

“Oh,” Hinata exclaimed, looking at the notes. “It’s so colorful.”

“Um, yeah,” she said with bashfulness, “I tried to apply some of the theory I use in my class notes.”

Kageyama was near them, and heard the whole thing. _How convenient,_ he thought. He had been wanting to ask for the notes to study his daily performance, and Yachi had a tidy way to write them that was easy to understand. Also he had less difficulty talking to her than to Shimizu-senpai.

Truth be told, Kageyama never thought Yachi would be so reliable. The first time she came over, with all the nervousness she had, he thought she wouldn’t handle the position of manager. So when she accustomed to the club and turned out to be really capable, he was gladly he was wrong.

Still, sometimes she could have really weird ideas that he couldn’t keep up the pace with.

“It’s really hot today!” Hinata exclaimed, while taking his shirt up to clean his face of sweat.

Yachi’s face turned red. She quickly looked down at the notebook. Hinata took notice of it.

“Okay, everyone, get together,” the coach called out.

Hinata and Kageyama left Yachi.

“Yachi-san is a girl after all, uh,” said Hinata.

Kageyama looked at him with confusion. “Of course, what did you think.”

It wasn’t that Hinata didn’t realize she was a girl, but he usually didn’t thought much of it. She was a friend for him just like any of his boy friends and so he treated her like that. But maybe, for Yachi wasn’t the same thing.

“You think she feels awkward around us?”

“Why?”

“Because we’re all boys.”

“How could I know?”

Kageyama didn’t understand girls, they had a lot more complicated reasoning than him. So he could only guess what they were trying to say and do when interacting with them, which was wrong most of the times.

The conversation had to be cut there though, since the coach gave them a speech, and after that they went full into spiking and blocking, leaving the subject aside.

A bit before the practice was over, Hinata excused himself. He had to go home earlier since his mother would get late and Natsu was on the house by herself. So he rushed out in his bike, saying goodbye to everyone in the same motion.

Not much later, everyone else called it a day, except for Kageyama, who stayed for a little more to practice his serving, as he had left it badly relegated. He was the only one left, so when he finished, he didn’t expect to find Yachi by the school’s entrance.

“Ah, Kageyama-kun, good work,” she greeted.

“Going home?”

“Yeah, I was going to go shopping with some friends but they couldn’t make it today,” she sighed. “So yes, I’m going home.”

“Okay,” he said. Not really knowing if he should continue the conversation or just leave.

“Are you going home too, Kageyama-kun? We’re going the same way, right?”

“Ah... yeah.”

Yachi began walking and Kageyama followed her. For some time they didn’t talked.

“Were you practicing by yourself?” Yachi suddenly spoke, surely because she didn’t bare the silence.

“Yes, I was serving,” he said.

“Oh right, you have been focusing on setting more than serves lately.”

Kageyama blinked. “Yes, that’s right.”

“I’m glad,” she said honestly, “you have very strong serves, Kageyama-kun.”

He didn’t know Yachi was that observant, but after thinking about it, it should be obvious, since she spent so much time helping them.

“By the way, Yachi-san,” he remembered, “can I take your notes from practice borrowed? I want to see what can I improve.”

“Of course! I don’t have them right now since Shimizu-senpai will check them,” she explained, “but you can come to my house to get them whenever you want.”

“Thanks.”

 _Going to her house..._ he thought. At that moment, he remembered Hinata’s question and thought it would be easier to ask her directly.

“Yachi-san, is it weird to you to spend time with guys?”

She didn’t doubt to answer. “Not at all, the club is really fun,” she smiled. “But, I have to turn around when you change,” she mumbled.

Kageyama nodded, it was understandable.

“If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t had try to challenge myself, so I’m really glad I got to know you all.” she said with fondness.

Kageyama felt a bit overwhelmed. He didn’t respond.

Soon, they got to the bus stop.

“I’ll wait for the bus, thanks for walking with me,” Yachi said.

“It’s no problem.” Kageyama didn’t even offered to walk her, so there wasn’t really anything she should thank him for.

“See you tomorrow,” Yachi waved goodbye.

“Bye.”

And with that, Kageyama left. He looked up at the sky and realized it was actually pretty late, and also that he was quite hungry. He didn’t have much trouble talking with Yachi like he thought he would, that was something good.

Next morning, he arrived early to school for morning practice. Hinata came a bit later.

“It’s my win this time,” Kageyama bragged.

“It doesn’t count,” Hinata argued.

“Of course it does, idiot.”

Hinata didn’t accept it. “We should get someone to decide better. Oh! Maybe Yachi-san could.”

Kageyama suddenly remembered yesterday’s conversation. “That’s right, Yachi-san doesn’t mind.”

“Let’s ask her th--”

“Being around guys.”

“What?”

“She says it’s okay.”

Hinata furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding until he did memory of their talk. “Oh, did you ask her?”

“Yes.”

“I see,” Hinata nodded. “It’s good that she became our manager then.”

Kageyama reflected upon it. “Yeah,” he did agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing from Tobio's POV was a bit challenging, I tried to go with an oblivious view of oneself but very observing of others. Hinata, on the other side... is just Hinata.


End file.
